Chairman's foreword
2014 was a positive turning point for Rabobank in many ways. After a
turbulent 2013, we took important and necessary steps to restore our
customers' confidence in our bank in 2014. Our nearly 52,000 employees,
who have demonstrated unwavering commitment, deserve a huge
compliment for this accomplishment. Above all we thank our customers
and members for their loyalty to the bank.
We fully realise that we have to earn trust. It must be crystal clear that Rabobank acts first and
foremost in the interests of its members and customers and the environment in which they live
and work. Only then can we properly fulfil our mission to be a rooted in society. Our task is to
be a financial services provider that is both financially sound and anchored in society. While we
saw confidence begin to be restored in 2014, it nonetheless remained fragile. There is still a
great deal to be done. Our financial results for 2014 are not unsatisfactory given the continuing
difficult economic conditions and the developments of recent years. However, they are still not
sufficient for the future. We have posted an underlying improvement in profit. In 2014 Rabobank
continued to rank among the world's most sound and stable banks. We passed the ECB's stress
test with good results. But we can do better still.
In the Annual Report, Rabobank renders accountability for the key developments in 2014.
Even more than in previous years, we want the Annual Report to meet the information needs of
all our stakeholders: customers, employees, financial and societal organisations.This is why the
sustainability report has now been completely incorporated into the report.The next step will
be to present a fully integrated report. This will be a report in which we discuss the themes that
are relevant in the dialogue with our stakeholders and in which we also provide better insight
into the added value Rabobank achieves locally, nationally and internationally.
Jan van Nieuwenhuizen, who is responsible for our wholesale customers in the Netherlands and
abroad, joined the Executive Board in the spring of 2014. After a three-month familiarisation period,
I succeeded Rinus Minderhoud as Chairman on 1 October 2014. We owe Rinus Minderhoud a
great debt of gratitude for his outstanding expertise and his unfaltering dedication in leading
the Executive Board during an extremely tumultuous period.
Rabobank is committed to being a leading customer-centric cooperative bank in the Netherlands
and a leading food and agri bank worldwide. In order to be able to continue to fulfil this
commitment, our focus looking to the future is on four directional themes that are inextricably
linked. While this direction is still unfolding, it rests on foundations that have stood for more than
a century. The first theme is customer focus. The Vision 2016 programme is designed to enable
us to respond to changing customer needs and is leading in this respect in the Netherlands.
At the heart of Vision 2016 lies the commitment to provide high-quality advice combined with
continued virtualisation of services and participation in local communities. Numerous innovations
were introduced in 2014 that gave shape to this customer-centric virtualisation. Vision 2016 also
entails mergers of local Rabobanks and job losses. As a result we unfortunately had to lose a
1 Chairman's foreword
